Firewall Question - IE is trying to listen for connections from my PC

Hello,

I keep getting these pop-ups:

Firewall Question
iexplorer.exe is trying to listen for connections from your own PC
Program:	iexplorer.exe
Path:		C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplorer.exe
Description:	web
Company:	Microsoft Corporation
Signed by:	Microsoft Windows Verification PCA
Direction:	Incoming
Local Address:	www.007guard.com 64388
Remote Address:	www.007guard.com 0
Protocol: 	UDP
Action to take
Allow Deny
Access policy: Friends in/out

Also:

iexplorer.exe is trying to connect inside your own PC
...
Direction:	Outgoing
Local Address:	www.007guard.com 49197
Remote Address:	www.007guard.com 7754
Protocol:	TCP

Why is IE doing this (“trying to listen for connections from my PC”, “trying to connect inside my PC”)?
What are the port numbers needed for?
Thanks,
amba

Do you have Spybot S&D?

Welcome to the forum.

See if the following answers your question and problem:
http://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=40574.msg340140#msg340140

Hi,

Thanks for the answer.
I’ve read the link, and i do have Spybot, which explains the www,007guard,com reference. Now I’ve changed my first line in my hosts file to be

127.0.0.1       localhost

. As a result, the messages i get look nicer:

...
Local Address:	localhost 57397
Remote Address:	localhost 0
...

I still wonder, though, and pardon if it might be a noobish question, what is IE (and any other program) using the loopback mechanism for?
Thanks again,
amba

Anyone?.. Anyone?.. plz this is really important to me and i shall be greatful for all eternity to whomever gives me de answer.

K. what I’ve found so far:
the loopback mechanism is normally used by software. the software is “talking to itself”.
these connections (127.0.0.1) cannot be reached from outside the computer. (source http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=3222661 )
On Firefox, for example, the loopback mechanism is used to set up an SSL connection.
I wonder if this have to do with the “client-server model” application architecture.
Have a nice day,
amba